This website is the central website for The British Association of Barbershop Singers (BABS) and here you will find everything you need to know about Barbershop harmony singing in the UK.

If you need to find a barbershop chorus or barbershop quartet to sing for your event, or want to find a chorus near to you that you can join to sing, or you need to know what barbershop events are occurring in the barbershop singing world, or you need to track down some music, then you will find it all here on this website

BABS holds its national convention in May every year when all the choruses and quartets from all over the UK meet to celebrate this wonderful hobby. There are two major competitions - one for the choruses and one for quartets.

Barbershop harmony is a style of unaccompanied vocal music characterised by consonant four-part chords for every melody note in a predominantly homophonic texture.

The melody is consistently sung by the lead, with the tenor harmonising above the melody, the bass singing the lowest harmonising notes, and the baritone completing the chord.

Barbershop singers adjust pitches to achieve perfectly tuned chords in just intonation while remaining true to the established tonal centre.

Artistic singing in the Barbershop style exhibits a fullness or expansion of sound, precise intonation, a high degree of vocal skill and a high level of unity and consistency within the ensemble. Ideally, these elements are natural, unmanufactured and free from apparent effort.

Barbershop music presentation uses appropriate musical and visual methods to convey the theme of the song and provide the audience with an emotionally satisfying and entertaining experience. The musical and visual delivery is from the heart, believable, and sensitive to the song and its arrangement throughout. The most stylistic presentation artistically melds together the musical and visual aspects to create and sustain the illusions suggested by the music.

To become a member of BABS, it is best to join a Registered Club - the annual subscription will be £45 as of 1st January 2017. When you sing with a registered club, you will automatically become a full member. For your local chorus click here

Individual full membership of BABS through the Don Amos Club is also available to all men in the UK, and those based overseas, who are not members of a registered club - annual subscription £45 as of 1st January 2017.

Individual Associate membership is also available and the current annual subscription is £25.

5th April 201810 Scholarships Announced for 40th Harmony College

BABS Harmony Foundation is offering ten scholarships for the next Harmony College in August. Closing date for applications is the 7th June 2018. Click here for details

20th November 2017International Chorus Draw for 2018

See the draw for the 2018 Barbershop Harmony Society's Chorus Contest. This takes place in Orlando Florida next July. Click here for draw

12th November 2017Hannah and the Hurricanes win the 2017 Mixed Quartet Contest

Hannah and the Hurricanes become the Barbershop in Harmony Mixed Quartet Champions for 2017. The gold medal was won in a contest that saw 17 quartets compete for the coveted title.

30th October 2017BABS Success at European Convention

Finest Hour became the 2017 European Quartet Champions, Portobello Road pick up Silver with the Cottontown Chorus winning Bronze in the European Chorus Contest. Also a special mention to 4 On Demand, who came 6th in the quartet contest. Click here to see the Scoresheets

24th May 2016Harmony Foundation Launches New Community Fund

Have you got a great idea to take Barbershop into the community? The BABS Harmony Foundation Community Fund could help provide funding towards the project. Click here for details